Dismantling the patriarchy…one drink at a time!

OH CRUEL WORLD: The Beverage*

*LUPEC Boston’s latest ruminations, in case you missed ‘em in this week’s Dig.

by Pink Gin

The holiday season got you down? Can’t cope with the T anymore? Still waiting for a late paycheck? Getting through a romantic break-up? Wondering what do drink after you’ve sent in your anonymous gripe?

The Boilermaker, of course.

A series of in-depth interviews with John Gertsen of Drink yielded the following:

“I believe that all of the earliest saloon drinking was merely some strong whiskey and good ale. It makes perfect sense to me that someone eventually put the two together, kinda like those old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials. One thing that is most certain is that many unions, including the Brotherhood of Boiler Makers and Iron Shipbuilders, met frequently in Saloons. According to turn-of-the-century sociologist, Royal Melendy, ‘The Hotels… do not want the man with the soiled clothes and the calloused hands in their rooms, They are forced to meet in the saloons, or in rooms above’. As a saloon-keeper, I find the boilermaker to be an effective drink for all classes, including those with clean clothes and smooth hands. We offer Old Overholt Rye and a Reading Premium Beer as our house boilermaker.”

Well, when I’m at his saloon doing my research on boilermakers I prefer the Old Overholt with a Turbodog. Nevertheless, with kind regards to Mr. Gertsen and the resident beer experts on the next page and everybody else with an opinion, we’d like to nominate this combination as a boilermaker worthy of the Dig and any of your darkest moments: